A Little Accident
by Rose Lupus
Summary: Emma has a misadventure whilst experimenting with her new-found magic. Yes, this is one of those ridiculous fics where someone is turned into a small child. I was bored, ok?
1. Chapter 1

Mr Gold's laughter was audible through the door before he even knocked. Neal looked up from the game of checkers he was playing with Henry with a look of utter surprise at the once familiar chuckle. David cast a look of confusion across the room at his wife before walking over to answer the door. He was greeted by a grinning Mr Gold who had an arm wrapped around an angrily squirming little girl.

David just stared.

"What is it?" Mary Margaret asked as she came over to the door. Neal and Henry exchanged curious looks before jumping up and following Mary Margaret.

"I… don't know," David continued to stare at the child. She appeared to be about four years old, and was clad only in an over-sized singlet. She also seemed very displeased with Mr Gold carrying her.

"I think this belongs to you," Mr Gold said, and held out the child.

"Mary Margaret!" The child called, and reached out to her.

Mary Margaret cast Gold a very puzzled look before taking pity on the child who was struggling to get out of Mr Gold's grasp.

"Oh, you're adorable!" she cooed as she settled the child on her hip, unable to stop herself from stroking the little girl's soft blonde hair.

"What do you mean she belongs to us?" David asked,

"Emma had a little… accident today with her magic," Mr Gold told them with an amused smirk. The child hid her face in the crook of her mother's neck on hearing this.

The realisation dawned on everyone's faces and Mary Margaret pulled the child out of her hiding place so she could see her face.

"Emma?" she asked with a tone of wonder to her voice. Her eyes traced over the child's face, seeking out features she recognised.

"Mom?!" Henry stared at the small child with disbelief.

"EMMA?" Neal laughed until he sounded short of breath. Little Emma responded with a scowl and a rude gesture that was distinctly un-child-like.

"Emma!" Mary Margaret scolded and grabbed the offending hand in her own.

"He laughed at me!" Emma protested.

"That's no excuse for bad behaviour."

"I'm 29, Mary Margaret."

"Then you should already know better."

Emma crossed her arms with a huff.

"That's definitely Emma," David grinned at Mary Margaret over Emma's head.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note: **Umm... Woah? Did not expect such a huge response for something that took me about five minutes to write, and zero minutes to plan. I take it I'm NOT them only one who enjoys a bit of plot-less fluff? :-) Thank-you! And here; have another chapter!

* * *

**Chapter 2**

"You can put me down now."

Mary Margaret nodded her head, but didn't make any move to release her now very small daughter.

Gold had left a couple of minutes before, and the Charming family was still stunned. He'd said the spell was something Emma would have to figure out how to undo herself. Emma had given him a very unimpressed look at this revelation; declaring that she'd been trying to undo it from the moment she'd cast the *expletive* spell and her *expletive* magic didn't work. When Gold had offered an alternate suggestion – that perhaps Mary Margaret should take her shopping for a new, smaller wardrobe – Emma's mother had had to restrain her tiny daughter from leaping across to strangle him.

Emma shifted uncomfortably when Mary Margaret stroked her cheek again, and her eyes darted to Neal, who was watching with a very bemused expression.

"Mary Margaret."

"But you're so _cute_!" Mary Margaret exclaimed; a note of pride in her voice.

"Adorable," David nodded from his place at Mary's side.

Emma's face flushed red, and she ducked her head down against Mary to hide her embarrassment.

"Awwww!" Mary Margaret laughed and cuddled Emma close.

'Do you want to hold her?' she mouthed to David over Emma's head. He responded with an eager nod, and Emma found herself being passed to her father.

"Uh, hi?" Emma greeted, resisting the urge to snap at them for passing her around like a baby.

She knew they were trying to make up for lost time, and being cuddled was not an entirely unpleasant experience... She just wished Neal wasn't standing three feet away grinning at her predicament. Not to mention Henry, who had the exact same expression of amusement upon his face.

"Hi," David replied. He lasted a couple of seconds before giving in to the urge to take hold of her tiny hand and examine her tiny fingers.

Emma glanced over at Mary Margaret who was watching their interaction intently. The expression on her face reminded her of the time they had visited her nursery. It was the same look that she had had when she was telling Emma about what she had planned for her family before the curse.

Emma cast a quick glance at Neal and Henry and noted they were busy discussing something and not paying her any attention. She turned back to David, who still seemed fascinated by her hands. She took a deep breath before leaning in and cautiously wrapping her arms around his neck. After a split second of pause, David's arms cuddled tightly around her, one hand sneaking up to cup the back of her head. Emma made herself relax into him and didn't comment when she felt his lips press against the side of her head.

Mary Margaret made a muffled noise that Emma suspected meant she was crying, and she wasn't surprised to feel David taking an arm away from her to pull Mary in to join the hug. Emma kept her face buried in David's shoulder because she suspected that if she saw Mary Margaret crying that she would follow suit. They remained in that position until a double flash of light startled them.

When they turned to investigate they saw Henry with a camera in his hands and a wide grin upon his face.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Just a very short bit today.

* * *

"No," Emma shook her head emphatically. "That's not happening."

Mary Margaret stood before her, hopefully holding out a frilly little white dress.

"Worth a try," Mary shrugged, before pulling out the jeans and t-shirt she had left in the shopping bag.

Emma took the clothes and the shoebox her mother added to the pile in her arms before retreating to her room. Five minutes later she slunk back out with her shoe laces still untied and the button on her jeans undone. She stood before Mary Margaret for a whole minute before muttering.

"I need help."

Mary Margaret stifled a smile before kneeling down to do up the button that that was too tough for four year old fingers to manage and the shoelaces Emma had found she no longer had the fine motor skills to knot.

"Thank-you," Emma muttered again.

"You're welcome."


	4. Chapter 4

"I'm the sheriff!" Emma protested. "You can't be a deputy, because I didn't make you deputy."

"You can't be the sheriff, you're four years old," David pointed out.

"I'm still the sheriff. I'm just smaller."

"Yeah," said Neal, "About three feet smaller. What are you going to do if somebody tries to commit a crime? Kick them in the shins?"

Emma glowered at him.

"My gun doesn't care how tall I am."

David shook his head in exasperation.

"You can't come. If something actually happens, you could get hurt."

"I won't!"

David sighed.

"Fine." He walked over to the table to retrieve Emma's hand gun, brought it back and handed it over.

Emma smiled triumphantly.

"Now try and shoot the wall."

Emma shrugged at the request and tried to lift the gun. She frowned. Adding another hand, she got the gun up. Then she tried to aim it at the wall. Her hands kept drifting downwards, the gun now too heavy for her to hold up easily. She tried resting her arms on the table to help support the gun, and then tried to pull the trigger. After few moments of fumbling she realised her hands were too small to both hold the gun and reach the trigger. David let her struggle for a little longer before plucking the gun from her hands.

"Neal is deputy, and you're staying home with Snow until this is over with," David sai with a tone of finality.

Neal grinned, and Emma gave him a death glare in return.


	5. Chapter 5

"You gave our baby a GUN?!"

"It was her gun!" Charming pointed out, "and she is still 29 years old, even if her body isn't. Besides," He added, lowering his voice to a whisper so Emma wouldn't overhear, "I unloaded it before I even let her touch it."

"Oh thank god."

"Neal and I are going to head over to the station to take care of a few things. Take care of our girl."

"I will."

He gave her a kiss goodbye and followed Neal out of the apartment.

Snow smiled after him before turning her attention back to Emma, who had flopped dejectedly on the couch and hadn't moved since.

"Emma, are you ok?"

"Fine."

"You don't look fine."

"I've been usurped by my own father because I shrank myself into freaking toddler. Of course I'm not fine," Emma responded grumpily. "Traitor." she added in a mumble to herself.

Snow took a seat on the couch next to her daughter, who had dropped her face back into the cushion.

"Emma. Your father loves you. He's only trying to keep you safe. You're too little right now to be handling guns and trying to run down criminals. You know that."

Emma gave a sullen sigh. She did know, but that didn't mean she had to like it.

"Are you upset because your father picked Neal to be deputy? I know he hurt you, and it's completely understandable for you to be feeling a bit upset or maybe even a little jealous –"

Emma's head shot up and she whipped around to face Snow.

"No!" Emma denied indignantly. "I'm not jealous of Neal!"

"But you didn't want him to be deputy?"

"He shouldn't be deputy! He's a felon, for crying out loud!"

"Emma. Weren't you a felon once too?" Emma crossed her arms and glared at the floor while Snow continued. "Everyone makes mistakes. I've made mistakes, you've made mistakes… and everyone deserves a chance to move past their mistakes, don't they?"

Emma continued her sullen examination of the floorboards.

"I'm not saying that he didn't do something wrong, or that it doesn't matter that he did something wrong. I'm not asking you to forgive him. But maybe it's time to give him a chance to make amends. Maybe letting him help us is a way to do that."

Emma gave no indication she'd even heard the suggestion.

"And Emma, I need you to know that your father and I love you. We're _your_ parents, and we're on _your_ side. No one is picking Neal over you."

"I'm not jealous," Emma reiterated.

"Ok," Snow acknowledged patiently. "But you understand, this is just about us keeping you safe, right? Because we love you, and not because of any other reason."

Emma nodded stiffly in response.

Snow smiled at her.

"Good," she said, her tone light and cheerful once more. "Now come on, let's go make some hot chocolate."

With that Snow scooped her daughter up off the couch and carried her to the kitchen before she could protest.


	6. Chapter 6

David opened the door and stepped into the apartment. He shucked off his coat and called out to his wife.

"Snow, are you –"

"Shhh!" she hushed urgently.

She was seated on the couch in front of the tv. Frowning, David walked over to her. She was watching some action movie he didn't recognise.

"That good?" he whispered, an eyebrow raised in question.

"It's not that…" Snow breathed, and nodded down at her lap.

At first all he noticed was the rug draped over her knees. Then he noticed a small pale arm hanging limply next to one of Snow's legs, and a tuft of blonde hair poking out of a fold of blanket. Emma had fallen asleep whilst watching television and slowly slid down her mother's side until the top half of her body rested on Snow's lap.

"Charming," Snow whispered, her voice thick with emotion.

David nodded in acknowledgement and dropped silently to his knees to peer under the edge of the blanket. Emma's face was blissfully peaceful, her breathing deep and even. He brushed a finger over her cheek and marvelled at its softness.

"Don't wake her."

"Wouldn't dream of it," David promised.


	7. Chapter 7

Emma woke up in her bed, though she distinctly remembered being on the couch. She realised with a start that someone - probably one of her parents - must have carried her to her room. She wasn't sure how she felt about that… the foster child in her was disturbed by the fact that she had let her guard down enough to sleep through being picked up, carried through the apartment and tucked into bed… and apparently also changed into a pair of bright pink pyjamas covered in cartoon cats. But this was her family, her Mom and her Dad, doing Mom and Dad things that once upon a time were what she wanted more than anything else in the world.

She sat in bed and hugged her knees while she turned this over in her head for a while, before coming to the conclusion that this whole situation was very, very weird and her feelings about it were far too confusing for her to make sense of. So she shoved those feelings back into the box they popped out of and moved on.

Laid out over the foot of her bed was a small red and white dress. Emma ignored Mary Margaret's obvious attempt to little-girl-ify her and went looking for her shirt and jeans. She searched the wardrobe, the dresser, the laundry hamper, under the bed, under her covers…. They were gone.

Emma sighed internally, but she couldn't help but admire her mother's strategy and persistence. She wondered if this was her own influence. She had tried something similar once to try and convince Mary Margaret to wear something that didn't make her look like a grade school teacher.

She gave the dress another once-over. It wasn't the ridiculous tutu like dress that she had been offered yesterday – Mary Margaret seemed to be aiming for a compromise. It was mostly red, with a a white band at the waist and at the end of some slight puffy short sleeves.

Emma thought about just going downstairs in her pyjamas as an act of defiance, but ended up deciding the pyjamas were even more embarrassing than the dress. Also, a little part of her just wanted to make her mother/best friend smile. So she pulled on the dress, and the white tights, and the shiny black little shoes.

Emma plucked unhappily at the puffed sleeves and pulled a face at her reflection in the mirror; she very much looked the part of a four year old girl. Mary Margaret better appreciate this, Emma thought to herself.

She trudged down the stairs to the kitchen, where her family was already preparing breakfast. Henry spotted her first, and grinned.

"Nice outfit, Mom."

Emma pulled a face at him and headed for her stool. Mary Margaret and David turned then, and Emma could tell that Mary Margaret was trying very hard not to let out an 'aww!' or make some comment on how cute she looked.

"You're actually wearing it!" she said instead, unable to restrain a large grin from erupting on her face.

Emma shrugged in response, avoiding eye contact. Her mother's enthusiasm was infectious though, and she could help the brief smile the swept across her face. Mary Margaret was practically bouncing she was so happy.

Emma attempted to climb up the side of the stool, but it started to wobble under her weight and suddenly David was there, lifting her up and placing her on her seat. She glanced up at him and mumbled a quiet thanks.

"So," Emma changed the subject. "What's for breakfast?"


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** Over 5000 views from 51 different countries? Woah! :-O Thank-you! And thank-you especially to the dozens of people leaving reviews – it's fantastic to have so much feedback on a story. You may have noticed that some of the chapters are from ideas suggested to me in comments, or inspired by them – much easier to write when you have other people helping you with ideas. :-) Thanks for the help everyone!

* * *

With David off to work at the sheriff's station, and Henry off to school, it was just Snow and Emma at home. After filling in some time in the morning, Snow had suggested they head to the diner to meet up with David for lunch. Snow grabbed her handbag and fastened the buttons on her coat and waited for Emma to come back down from her room. And waited. And waited. And waited.

"Emma?" Snow called up the stairs. "What's the hold up?"

There was no reply, so she headed up the stairs.

"Emma?"

Snow was starting to feel a little worried by the fact that Emma wasn't responding… but maybe she'd fallen asleep. Emma had been rather easy to tire out since her transformation. Snow was starting to wonder whether four year olds needed afternoon naps, but she didn't dare voice that opinion to her daughter. Emma was having a hard enough time as it was, with everyone's tendency to treat her like a child at the moment.

Emma's room was empty, which didn't make sense, because Snow hadn't seen her leave it and she'd been watching the door for last half hour straight. She checked the bathroom just in case she'd slipped past without her noticing. Nothing. She went back to Emma's bedroom and frowned. She had to be in here somewhere. Had to be. She pushed down the illogical panic that was rising up within her chest the idea her daughter might be missing. Now was not a time to panic, and there was probably some perfectly reasonable explanation for this.

"Emma, where are you?"

Snow could hear a trace of her fear sneaking out into her voice, despite her best efforts. She took a deep breath and started to search the room. Under the bed, beside the dresser, in the closet…. Wait. There was an old trunk in the bottom of the closet. Snow lifted up the lid, and smiled in relief.

"Emma, what on earth are you doing in there?"

"I don't know," Emma sighed despondently. "Trying to turn myself into a sweater?"

Snow couldn't help but laugh.

"Why would you ever want to be a sweater?!"

"I can't turn myself into an adult, so I thought, hey, let's try something different!" Emma's voice was thick with sarcasm, which sounded a little odd coming from someone small enough to lay flat inside a suitcase.

"So… A sweater?"

"At least then nobody would know it was me," Emma commented, her expression gloomy.

"Oh, Emma," Snow said sympathetically. "Nobody will care. You aren't the first person to have an accident like this. Look at Jiminy!" Snow frowned, "Well, I guess you can't look at Jiminy. But still, at least you aren't a cricket!"

She smiled down at Emma who gave a brief half smile at her mother's attempts to cheer her up.

"Come on Emma," Snow grabbed her daughter's hands and pulled her up. "Let's go find your father. And if anybody gives you a hard time, they'll have me to answer to."

That made Emma giggle. Snow grabbed Emma's coat from the bed and held it out for her daughter to put her arms through.

"What are you laughing at, huh?" Snow joked, "You've seen me do it before! One laugh, and I'll whip out the bow and -"

Snow mimed firing off a shot. Emma doubled over and laughed until she was red in the face. When she calmed down, Snow flipped the back of her coat collar down and took her daughter's hand.

"Okay?" Snow asked.

Emma nodded, still catching her breath.

"You're such a goofball, Mary Margaret" Emma said, and shook her head in amusement as they left the apartment.


	9. Chapter 9

As they entered the diner, Emma slipped her hand out of Snow's and subtly edged behind her. She pretended it was so they could fit through the door more easily, but really she was just hoping to delay the inevitable. Snow waved at Ruby and hurried over to give her friend a hello hug. Emma self-consciously looked around the diner. No one had noticed her yet. Her mother was chatting enthusiastically with the redhead, so Emma took a seat at a nearby table. Luckily the diner's chairs weren't quite so high as the stools in their kitchen, so she managed to climb up without drawing any attention to herself. Feeling a little nervous, she opened up the menu started studying it.

Glancing up after a minute, she caught her mother looking around for her. Their eyes met, and Snow smiled at her. Red followed her friend's gaze to the small blonde child at the table. She looked around the diner, and then looked back at Emma in confusion. She stepped over to Emma's table and dropped down to a squat beside her chair.

"Hi there sweetie. Where are your parents?" Red asked with concern.

Emma rolled her eyes at the talking-to-a-small-child tone she heard in Red's voice and pointed over her shoulder at Snow. Red turned and saw only Snow. She looked back and forth between the two, growing even more confused.

"Snow? Do you know who she belongs with?"

Snow laughed.

"She's mine."

"You mean one of your students? Isn't she a little young for school?"

"No, she's mine. As in my daughter. It's Emma," Snow said, grinning as she watched the realisation blossom on Red's face.

Red turned back to Emma, and her jaw dropped.

"Hey Ruby," Emma greeted.

"No way!" Ruby leaned down to inspect her more closely, "What happened to you?! You're tiny!"

"I drank from the 'drink me' bottle," Emma told her.

Ruby looked at Snow in askance.

"Magic," Snow shrugged.

"Oh, of course," Ruby nodded in understanding. "Potion? Curse?"

"She did it herself while she was practicing."

"Unlucky," Ruby said to Emma sympathetically. "I've heard of worse though."

Ruby stared at Emma for a minute.

"Hey Snow, she kinda looks like you, if you ignore the hair."

Snow smiled so widely Emma thought her cheeks must be aching.

"You think?" she asked, her eyes on Emma.

"Definitely. She has your eyes. And your chin. And she is such a cutie!" Ruby gushed.

Snow glowed with pride, and Emma dropped her head onto the table and pulled the menu over her head.

"Hey Emma, can I pick you up?" Red begged.

"NO!"


	10. Chapter 10

By the time David arrived at the diner, Snow, Ruby and Granny were tying red ribbons onto Emma's pigtails. Emma spotted him as he entered the diner, and her eyes begged him to save her. David smiled.

"Snow! Emma!" he greeted as he approached them.

Snow turned to him with a cheerful expression - she was very clearly enjoying babying little Emma. David kissed his wife briefly before scooping his daughter up of the counter and into a hug and a kiss. Emma didn't protest against the overt display of affection, as he had quite effectively put a stop to Ruby and Snow's makeover.

"Shall we?" He gestured towards a table.

"Oh, right," Snow said, "Lunch. We got a little side-tracked…"

"So I see," David commented, flicking one of Emma's pigtails.

Snow looked slightly guilty. Ruby just looked pleased.

"You guys go sit down and I'll bring your lunch. The usual, right?" Ruby asked.

All three nodded and they took their seats. Emma sat next to David, facing the counter so she would be able to see Ruby coming.

As the waited for their orders, David made a face like he had just remembered something.

"Oh! I hope you don't mind, but I invited Neal to join us for lunch."

Emma gave her father a look of utter disbelief.

"You didn't."

"I did…" David trailed off as he read the unhappiness on his daughter's face, and his expression became contrite. "… and I shouldn't have?"

The door bell rang as someone entered the diner and Emma quickly disappeared under the table and started yanking the pigtails out of her hair. She ran her fingers through her hair and hid the ribbons in her pocket before re-emerging.

Neal watched her appear from under the table and raised an eyebrow.

"I dropped my fork," Emma explained, producing the fork she had grabbed as she slid under the table.

"Nice dress," Neal responded.

Emma's cheeks burned red as tomatoes. Neal sat down, she shot her father an exasperated look.

'Sorry' he mouthed.

She she shook her head unhappily and returned to her seat.


	11. Chapter 11

Neal patted her head as he left the table. Emma studiously ignored him.

Snow got up to pay the bill and say goodbye to Red, leaving her husband and daughter at the table.

"Sorry," David said, a puppy dog-like apologetic look upon his face.

"It's fine," Emma forgave him shortly.

After a moment of silence, David spoke again.

"I can see you and I have the same weakness," he told Emma tugging at his hair to remind her of the pigtails, "Neither of us is any good at saying no to your mother."

Emma rolled her eyes and nodded her head in agreement. When it came to something Mary Margaret really wanted, Emma found all her sides were soft sides.

"It's her eyes. They're just so hopeful when she's asking for something."

"Yup," Emma concurred. "And the sad face when you don't agree."

"Oh god, the sad face," David winced, "I usually give in before then. It kills me."

Emma smiled at him.

"That's sweet. You realise you're a pushover, right?"

"Like father, like daughter," David returned with a shrug.

"Only with her."

"And Henry," David pointed out.

"And Henry," Emma agreed.

"Thank-you," he added, "For making her happy. I haven't seen her like this in a very long time. You are a very good daughter."

Emma dropped her eyes and squirmed at the compliment, still not entirely used to all this mushiness.

"The pigtails suited you by the way," teased David, breaking the serious atmosphere, "You should wear your hair like that more often."

"Shut up," Emma retorted with a smile.


	12. Chapter 12

**Authors note: **Sorry for the multiple short chapters in a single day - I keep thinking of new things (or getting new ideas from readers - thank Soprano Pixie for this one) after I've posted them. On the bright side, writing like this means I'm actually writing faster than I normally would (I have a very short attention span...). :-)

* * *

David offered them a lift home to save them walking as it looked like it would soon rain. Emma stopped short as they neared David's car - she had spotted something in the back seat.

"What's that?"

"A car seat," Snow responded cautiously.

"No."

Emma shook her head emphatically.

"Emma, the law says children under 8 years –"

"I'm 29!" Emma ground out for what felt like the hundredth time in the last 24 hours.

"- or under 80 pounds," David continued "must ride in a car seat. You'd be lucky to be half that weight."

Emma crossed her arms and scowled up at him.

"Emma, you have to use the car seat. You're tiny; if we had an accident you could be seriously injured," Snow lectured.

"Well then you'll just have to drive carefully."

"It's the law, Sheriff," David prodded.

Emma huffed at this reminder.

"Fine," she muttered unenthusiastically.

She climbed into the car and up in to the car seat. She put her arms through the shoulder straps and clicked them into the buckle, shooing away her parents when they attempted to help her. Finished, she shifted uncomfortably in the seat, and spoke with a pained expression on her face.

"Let's go before someone sees me."


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N:** ... and because I have ZERO self control, despite the fact I have to be up in less than six hours, here is another little bit.

* * *

Emma fought with the buckle on her car seat, swearing under her breath before throwing her hands up in surrender.

"It's stuck," she complained.

Charming and Snow had been watching her struggle for the last five minutes trying not to laugh at the sight of a small child muttering a string of curse words. Her mannerism were still so very clearly adult Emma-like.

Knowing that this was close as Emma would get to asking for help, Charming stepped forward to help. In his stronger and more dextrous hands the buckle clicked open easily. Emma stared at it in disbelief.

"Oh,_ come on!_"

Charming shrugged in response.

"Must be child proof," Snow suggested as Emma slid out of her seat and jumped out of the car.

Emma gave no response or any indication she had heard her mother speaking. She stomped her way up the steps to their apartment.

Snow and Charming exchanged looks.

"She gets that from you," Charming commented.

"She does not!" she denied. With a sudden frown she added, "... I should probably go hide the kitchen appliances."

With a quick peck on his cheek, she darted after Emma. Charming smiled lovingly after them

"Oh, she _definitely_ does," Charming said once Snow was out of earshot.


	14. Chapter 14

"Good night, Mom," Henry said, and then he added, "… It's still weird that you're younger than me."

"So is having a son twice your size."

Henry smiled and bent down to give her a hug. Emma returned the hug only to find herself lifted up off her feet and spun around by her ten year old.

"Henry!"

Henry laughed and put her down. A cheeky grin adorned his face as he said goodnight again, this time heading for his bed.

"Good night!" Emma called after him.

A couple of hours later, Emma got up from the couch where she was seated next to her parents. She stretched her legs out to relieve the stiffness that came from sitting still for the entire duration of a movie. She then headed for the kitchen, with the intention of getting herself something to drink.

She got barely five steps before her toes caught under the edge of a rug and she fell flat on her face, and surprised herself completely by bursting into tears.

Her parents stared at her in shock for a minute – their daughter was not prone to crying. Snow recovered first.

"Oh, honey!"

She jumped up from the couch and swooped in to scoop her daughter up off the floor.

"Emma, what happened? Are you hurt?" she asked, patting her over for cuts and bumps. She was convinced she must have fractured her skull to be crying so uncontrollably.

"No," Emma responded, through her sobbing.

"What's wrong?" David asked her while Snow held her close and stroked her back, unconsciously bouncing her about like she would a baby.

"I. Don't. Know!" Emma wailed. The tears were streaming down her little face with no signs of stopping.

Snow and Charming exchanged looks, both completely baffled and anxious. Snow shushed Emma and kept stroking a hand over her head and back in an attempt to calm her. She looked up at her husband again, as she had an epiphany.

"I think she's overtired," Snow told him. "Like toddlers get overtired."

"I'm not a toddler," Emma was horrified to find herself sobbing with renewed vigour as she said this - she seemed to have completely lost control of her emotions. Despite knowing that she was crying over nothing, she found she couldn't stop the waves of emotion spilling over her eyelids and down her cheeks.

"You are in the body of one though," Snow reminded her gently, "And I think 11pm is well past it's bed time."

Emma flopped against Snow's shoulder continuing to sob intermittently.

"We better take her to bed."

Snow nodded in perfect agreement with Charming. Snow carried her up stairs and they got her ready for bed. Emma was by this stage so tired (and in fact half asleep) to even complain when her parents changed her into her pyjamas and tucked her into bed. They sat by her bedside until she fell asleep, and then kissed her good night.

"Sweet dreams Emma," Charming whispered.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N:** Have I mentioned how lovely it is to have people respond so positively to a story I'm having so much fun writing? It's so rewarding to have people caring enough about the story to make suggestions about what they would like to see happen and read it every day. I can't even tell you how much of a kick I get out of reading all of your reviews and watching the the traffic stats shoot up so high. Thank-you so much for making writing even more fun than it normally is! Also, I have read all your ideas and am trying to work in as many of them as possible - keep an eye out and you might see yours popping up. :-)

~ Rose

* * *

Emma sat on the floor with her legs crossed and her eyes squeezed shut in concentration. She half opened one eye and sighed frustratedly, closed her eye and screwed up her face again. Next time she opened her eyes, Henry was looking back at her.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Magic," Emma said.

"I don't think it's working."

"Tell me about, kid," Emma responded tiredly. She really was no good at this. She'd been sitting there for half an hour trying to 'emotion' herself back to adulthood, just like Mr Gold had told her to with absolutely no luck. She'd even tried doing something she figured would be relatively simple - making a spoon levitate – but hadn't even managed to get a twitch out of the silverware.

"It's okay Mom," Henry told her, "You'll get it to work eventually."

"I hope so," Emma told him, "I'm not keen on waiting for a couple of decades for this to fix itself."

Henry's smile faded.

"I hope so too."

"Oh Henry," Emma said, "I know this must be tough on you too. Don't worry about it, ok? I'll fix this somehow. And the meantime, I'm still your Mom. Just a bit smaller."

Henry nodded and leaned in for a hug. Emma wrapped her son up in a hug as best she could and pressed her lips to his head.

"Now," she said once they parted, "Go on and grab your bag. It's time for school."

Henry smiled and ran off to collect his things.


	16. Chapter 16

When Snow suggested they stop by the sheriff's station to see Charming, Emma was grabbing her coat before Snow had even finished her sentence.

Emma had been dying to check in on the temporary sheriff and deputy ever since she had been ousted from her position as sheriff. She trusted her father well enough, but Neal was another matter. That, and without a job, she was dying of boredom. Six years as a bail bondsman had given her something of an addiction to the adrenalin rush of chasing down criminals and feeling like she was doing something to contribute to society. Hanging out with her mother all day, although quite nice, was not quite as exciting and didn't do much to distract her from her predicament.

Emma speed along the pavement as fast as she could without actually running. Snow was walking by her side at a reasonably casual pace and keeping up with her easily. Emma mentally added tiny legs and tiny steps to her list of things that sucked about being four. Snow knew very well that the reason Emma was so keen on this idea was because it would allow her to check that Neal and her father hadn't burned the station down or something while they were unsupervised.

When they reached the station, Emma let Snow open the door because she knew it was too heavy for her to push open and she didn't want to make an idiot of herself in front of the people walking by, even she didn't recognise them. Snow held the door while Emma shot through and straight for her office.

Neal was leaning on her desk, talking to her father who was sitting at the desk with a pile of paperwork in front of him.

"… It was hilarious, they were right on my tail, and then out pops Emma from some side alley with this bottle of soda and…"

Correction. He was talking to her father _about her._

"Neal," Emma's voice was a warning.

Neal turned around and spotted her, not looking the least bit guilty at being caught informing her father

"Oh. Hi Emma."

He then turned back to David, and with a cheeky grin on his face, continued talking.

"Hey David, have told you about the time Emma made me watch Bambi and-"

Emma kicked him in the shin. HARD.

"Emma Swan!" Snow chastised, and pulled her back from Neal in case she was thinking about striking again.

Neal swore and clutched his leg.

"Jesus, Emma!"

"Shut. Up." she ordered.

"I'm shutting up!" he said, wincing as he rubbed his leg. "You kick pretty damn hard for a munchkin."

Emma glowered at him.

"Tell my dad anything else and you'll find out how hard I can kick."

Charming caught that one word in her sentence – dad. That was the first time he'd ever heard her call him that, he looked over at Snow and could tell from her expression that she'd noticed too. Emma didn't appear to have noticed what she had said, as she was too focused on Neal. Snow gave her husband a quick smile of joy before focusing back on Emma.

"Emma, you need to apologise to Neal."

Emma tipped her head up to give Snow a look of disbelief.

"He was asking for it!"

"Violence is never appropriate," Snow said firmly. "Apologise. Now."

Emma and Snow had a bit of staring contest until Emma dropped her eyes and gave a long suffering sigh.

"Sorry," she muttered at Neal.

It didn't sound very sincere.


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N:** Probably wrapping this up pretty soon - I have many, many assignments I should be doing.

* * *

Emma ran around the corner and straight into a pair of legs. She bounced and stumbled, just managing to keep herself off the ground.

"Watch where you're going!" A haughty voice snapped at her. Grumpily, the voice added, "Little brat."

Emma looked up and found Regina dabbing at a fresh coffee stain on her perfectly tailored suit. She gave an exasperated sigh and glared at the little girl still before her. Emma couldn't help it; she laughed.

Regina's eyes narrowed into slits as she took in the small blonde child laughing hysterically at her.

"What are you laughing at?" she hissed dangerously, expecting the child to burst into tears at her tone. The child did not. The child continued to laugh until she was gasping for air.

Just then, Snow and Charming rounded the corner behind her. They saw Regina, covered in coffee, and Emma at her feet, laughing and clutching her stomach. They both paled at the threatening expression that was aimed at their little daughter.

Charming darted forward, grabbed Emma by the waist, hoisted her up over his shoulder and ran for it, with Snow on his heels, yelling an apology for Emma over her shoulder.

Regina watched them flee with an incredulous look.

"Crazy town," she muttered, and threw her empty coffee cup into the bin.


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N:** **SPOILER ALERT:** This chapter is based on part of 2x18 and contains some dialogue taken from that episode so do not read this chapter if you haven't seen the latest episode and wish to remain unspoiled.

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* * *

"Hey buddy!" Neal greeted his son and wrapped him in a hug. "How are ya?"

"I'm good," Henry replied, and pulled out the fairy tale book, "I brought this. I thought you could tell me what it was really like over there."

"Sounds great," Neal said. He heard the front door closing as he spoke.

He looked up to see a pint-sized Emma trailing in behind her son. She hung back, not wanting to interrupt their conversation.

"Tell you what. Why don't you run to the dinner, get us three hot cocoas and we'll dive in," Neal gestured at the book and smiled at Henry.

His son grinned at him and gave his plan the thumbs-up and ran out the door, leaving Neal and Emma alone in an awkward silence.

"I should probably go. You know, leave you two to bond alone. And Snow's waiting for me outside - she walked over with us because apparently I'm not allowed to be unsupervised-"

"No, wait," Neal stopped her. "There's something I need to tell you."

"Okay…" Emma trailed apprehensively. She could tell from the look on Neal's face that he was about to tell her something he really didn't want to tell her, which in her experience meant something that was going to make her mad. Or ruin her day. Or both.

"Well," Neal started, clearly unsure of how to break the news, "You remember Tamara?"

Oh, she remembered Tamara. Emma schooled her expression into a poker face of politeness.

"Yeah, sure. Your fiancé."

She nearly choked on the word.

"Right," Neal said unnecessarily, "Well, she's coming."

Emma was genuinely confused for a second before she realised what he was telling her.

"Coming _here_? As in, Storybrooke?"

"Yeah. She should be here at Granny's any minute now."

Emma's eyes bugged out.

"What were you thinking?!"

She started to launch into a rant about bringing strangers to a town with magic and consequences and exposure, but was interrupted by Neal's phone chirping as it received a message.

"She'll be here in five minutes," Neal announced, his tone apologetic. "I'm sorry… I just needed her, okay?"

Emma sighed. There was clearly nothing she could do to stop this. She just hoped her father and Neal would be able to handle anything that might happen as a result of this. Actually, she wished that she could. She kicked the floor with glitter-speckled sneaker despondently. Stupid magic.

"Why don't you stay and get to know her?"

Emma couldn't stop her eyebrows from popping up in disbelief at his request.

"I _really_ should be going," was her response. Then out came the puppy dog eyes.

"She's bringing bagels," Neal bribed.

"Have you forgotten that I'm _four_?" Emma asked him pointedly, "You don't think she's going to notice that I have magically lost a quarter of a century? I don't care what those beauty cream adds say – nobody ages backwards!"

"So I won't say you're you," Neal argued. "It'll be a good opportunity for you to get to know her, and you can be sure that she's not putting anything on for your sake."

Emma gave in, and five minutes later found herself trapped in a room with her son, her ex and his new girlfriend. Joy. Not only was this incredibly awkward, she had to pretend like it wasn't for Henry's sake. She also had to pretend to be a four-year-old. Great. Perfect.

"Hello Henry, it's so nice to see you again," Tamara greeted her son.

"Hi," Henry responded.

"And who's this little cutie?" Tamara asked, squatting down to be at Emma's level.

Emma fought the urge to roll her eyes at the woman's condescending manner. She really disliked this woman. And it wasn't because she was dating Neal (though she _had_ thought he had better taste in women than this). There was just something about her that didn't feel quite right. She was one of those people who always sounded insincere to Emma, no matter what they were saying.

"Ahhh…" Neal groped for an explanation, "She's Henry's little… cousin… Lucy. They're really close."

Terrible liar, Emma thought and did her best to make her face communicate her judgement to him. When Tamara turned back to Emma, he gave her a shrug as if to say, 'what else was I supposed to say?'

"Well, hi Lucy, I'm Tamara. I'm Henry's daddy's girlfriend. It's very nice to meet you!"

Emma shot an incredulous look at Neal.

"Hi," she said unenthusiastically.

"Lucy's Mom is running an errand, so she's with us for an hour or so," Neal told Tamara.

"Oh, ok," Tamara said. "I'm sure we'll have lots of fun!"

She reached forward to tickle Emma.

"Don't touch me," Emma said and backed away from her.

Tamara pulled her hand back awkwardly. Neal covered his eyes with his hand and shook his head to himself. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N:** **SPOILER ALERT:** This chapter is is vaguely inspired by 2x18, and contains completely ridiculous speculation on future episodes. If you want to remain unspoiled, or you prefer more realistic stories, now's probably a good time to click the little 'x' in the top right-hand corner of the screen.

If you wish to continue; welcome to more of the scene-jumping madness that is the inside of my head. :-)

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After half an hour of chatting with Emma mostly sitting silently next to her son, doing her best imitation of a shy child, Neal told Tamara he'd better drop Henry and his 'cousin' back with Emma's mother. Emma slid off the couch and stood ready to go, reminding herself to wait to be escorted. She thought a four year old taking a ten year old by the hand and leading him out the door would probably look out of place.

"Bye," Neal murmured quietly to his fiancé.

He refrained from kissing her goodbye as he usually did. He was trying not to be too obvious in front Emma. No matter how much she brushed it off and said she couldn't care less, Neal knew it bothered her to see him with Tamara. Emma was a master of emotional control, but he'd spent almost two years of his life with her. He'd seen through the tiny chink in her armour that opened up when he'd first introduced her to Tamara. For a moment he'd seen the girl he used to love with hurt showing in her eyes. He'd never wanted to hurt her.

"Bye honey, I love you!" Tamara's voice was as sweet as sugar, but Emma saw a flicker in her expression and then she knew.

This woman was lying to Neal's face.

She realised now why she'd been experiencing that vague feeling of dislike earlier. Tamara was a very, very good liar, but a liar nonetheless. Emma hated liars. She really hated them. It reminded her far too much of the times in her life when she'd trusted someone, only to realise that they were using her for their own purposes.

As she watched Tamara hugging a clueless and trusting Neal, something burned inside her. Her hands clenched into fists and she glared at the bold-faced liar. She felt that something swelling up inside her, like balloon blown up almost to the bursting point.

"Love you too," Neal replied, and Emma felt that balloon go bang.

"I never loved you," Tamara blurted out suddenly and loudly. Her hands shot up to cover her mouth, too late to take it back.

Emma and Henry's eyebrows shot up and their eyes bounced to Neal.

Neal stared at Tamara, too shocked by her words to form any sort of reaction. After a long silent moment, his mouth opened. After a false start in which he just mouthed the word, he managed to get out a single question.

"What?"

The response flew from Tamara's mouth without hesitation.

"I don't love you. You're just the means to an end."

Tamara's eyes widened, as she took in what had just slipped from her lips. Realisation dawned on her face and she fixed her sights on Emma.

"You," Her voice was incredulous, but certain. "You did this."

Tamara sensed the magic that wound around her. It was strong, stronger than anything she had ever encountered – this child was not as inconsequential as she had supposed. She was furious that this little wretch had managed to best her, and the anger pushed her to stalk forward a step.

"And you'll pay."

Tamara's voice had a cold edge Neal had never heard in it before. Her face was smooth and expressionless, except for her eyes. Her eyes were intensely focused and as cold as her voice had been when accusing Emma. Neal stepped in front of Emma, blocking her from Tamara's view. He played out an arm in front of Henry too.

"Tamara?" The hurt and confusion was evident in Neal's voice. He couldn't believe the transformation he had just seen in his fiancé. She looked the same, but it was like someone else had just stepped inside her; a stranger. A malevolent stranger.

* * *

Snow was contemplating ordering her third cup of coffee. Or maybe hot chocolate this time. Emma had told she should go and do something and even promised to call her back when she was done, but Snow couldn't leave. She knew the instant she left she'd start worrying about her daughter; Emma was so small, and lacked the ability for self defence her adult self was capable of. In fact, she was worrying about her anyway, but she felt better being close by Granny's Inn.

She glanced across the street, and did a double take when she saw Neal and her grandson running out of the building. Neal had Emma in one arm, facing backwards, and she was angrily waving her arms at someone who was hot on their heels; someone who seemed intent on hurting her child. Snow was on her feet and out the diner door in an instant. Her heart jumped into her throat when she saw the angry woman closing in on them, fast.

She wasn't going to make it in time.

Just then something sparked from Emma's hands. The spark was quickly followed by a larger flash of light and a broad whooshing sound. The woman whose fingers were just about to close on Neal's jacket flew back like a pellet from a slingshot, landing with a screech into a garden at the end of the street.

Snow stopped dead in tracks and stared after her, her jaw dropping open. Neal and Henry stopped and turned to see what had happened. Neal let Emma slip to the ground where she stared along with them for a second before breaking the awestruck silence.

"Woah... It worked!"

* * *

**A/N #2:** I know that was probably a bit rushed, but I just had to get rid of Tamara. Hate her. So. Much.


	20. Chapter 20

To put it lightly; Emma's parents weren't happy.

It was the first time they'd let her out of their sight for more than ten minutes since her down-sizing, and someone had attempted to kill her. Snow had fussed over her to an extreme Emma hadn't yet had to endure, and then she'd called Charming and he'd sped over from the station to fuss over her too. When they weren't worrying over her and how to keep her out of harm's way, they'd been fussing over Henry. He didn't seem nearly as bothered by it as she was – he was still excited by Emma's 'epic' use of magic.

Charming was going to drive them all back to the apartment (a place Emma had a sinking feeling she would not be allowed to leave for quite a while), so she'd been forced back into the car seat. To her horror, Neal had somehow ended up in the seat next her.

He hadn't laughed or teased her as he normally would though. He hadn't even appeared to notice. He was too busy staring into space with a grim look on his face. Emma felt a surge of empathy overcoming the usual confusing mix of emotions she felt around Neal. Oh yeah, she remembered how much that feeling sucked. Better than she liked too.

Henry shot a concerned look to Emma when he too noticed his father's mood. Emma pushed aside her own concern momentarily to smile at Henry in an attempt to reassure him that it would be alright. She shifted her focus to Neal. He didn't notice her trying to catch his attention, so she reached out to touch his arm. He started in surprise and looked at her.

"Neal… are you okay?" Emma asked quietly. It was a stupid question – she already knew that he wasn't.

"I'll be fine," he said, spreading his lips tightly in something that was more of grimace than a smile.

The woman who he was going to marry had turned out not to give a damn about him beyond that she would give for a piece from her chess set. In addition, he was sitting next to living proof that even when he got the love thing right, he was bound to screw it up.

He was definitely not okay.


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: **Just a short little bit today, haven't had much time to write, plus this little bit felt like it should be on it's own.

* * *

"He _what_?!" Charming's voice rose a notch.

Snow winced. She'd known this was going to happen. If she were honest, she'd have to admit only barely having restrained herself from a similar reaction. She was trying very hard to be neutral in this mess, for Henry's sake and also, she thought, for her daughter. She had a feeling that as much as her daughter was angry with Neal - borderline hated him in fact - there was a part of her that wouldn't actually like Neal to be beaten to a pulp by her parents.

"Framed her. Sorry. Emma kind of didn't want me to tell anyone."

A hurt look briefly flashed over Charming's face before he refocused. His daughter was a very private person, he knew that. She probably had a hard enough time telling Snow that, and they had been best friends for a year. He and Emma didn't have that, not yet. Regardless, this was his daughter, and this man had been responsible for her being sent to jail at eighteen. Pregnant.

Charming rose to his feet, hands clenched.

"I'll kill him," he said decisively, and took off to find Neal.

"Charming!" Snow chased after him. "Don't you dare!"


	22. Chapter 22

**Author's Note:**Sorry for the wait guys, I got a little caught up in my other stories for a while there!

* * *

As Emma was getting out of the shower, she heard someone running around downstairs. Curious, she paused to listen. It was too early for Henry to be home from school, so it had to be either one of her parents, or Neal who was sort of, kind of staying with them. Emma wasn't entirely sure she was okay with that, really, but she didn't want him to be on his own after what had happened with Tamara.

A series of increasingly loud yells and then a couple of thuds had Emma hurriedly pulling on her clothes and running down the stairs a moment later.

What greeted her at the bottom of the staircase was chaos.

The dining table had been knocked on its' side, and in crumpled next to were both her parents and Neal. Neal was clutching his cheekbone with a pained expression. Her father was lying on the floor, looking winded with his wife sprawled across him.

"What the _hell_ is going on here?" Emma asked once she'd finished picking her jaw up off the ground.

"Emma!" Snow said, startled.

She quickly pulled her husband off the floor, and the pair of them stood awkwardly at attention.

"Snow White just gave me the chair," Neal informed her.

Emma's attention snapped to her mother, whose eyes widened at the accusation. Snow rushed to explain.

"I did _not_; I was just trying to split the two of them up. Neal _fell_ on the chair!"

"Split them up?" Emma was even more confused now, and she looked to Neal, and then to her father.

Her father avoided eye contact. Emma narrowed her eyes at the obvious guilt in that action. She looked again at Snow, and raised her eyebrow, waiting for further explanation. Snow squirmed under her miniature daughter's gaze.

"I kind of… told your father. About Neal. And you going to jail…" She trailed off and cringed in anticipation of her daughter's reaction.

"Mom!"

"I'm sorry! I couldn't keep it from him," Snow gave her a doleful look, "I didn't realise he'd try to strangle him! Although in retrospect, I guess that is a possibility I should anticipated, but – "

Snow continued to babble nervously as Emma stared at her father. He felt her eyes on him and raised his head to give her a sheepish look.

"Wait."

Emma's tone was thick with disbelief.

"Were you actually just…" She almost choked on her next words, "…defending my honour?"

"A little bit," Charming admitted apologetically. Then he caught sight of Neal again, shot him a dirty look, and added, "Which is completely within my rights as a father."

Neal correctly interpreted the threat inherent in that comment, and shuffled a couple of steps further away from Charming. Snow elbowed her partner in the ribs and gave him a warning look.

"Have mentioned that I was only doing what I thought was best for her? So she could find her family? And that I didn't know she was pregnant?" Neal put in.

"And there wasn't _any _other way to achieve that without _abandoning_ her and setting her up go to _jail_?" Charming stepped forward aggressively, pulling his wife along with him as she attempted to hold him back.

"Charming!" she hissed.

Emma's eyes bounced between them like a tennis ball between a pair of racquets – this was definitely getting interesting.

"Oh really? You're going to talk to _me_ about abandoning Emma?" Neal spat back. "You put her in some magical wardrobe without even knowing where it would send her!"

Charming broke free of Snow's hold a shot forward, right into Neal's face.

"I would _never_ abandon Emma. I _love _her.I put her in that wardrobe give her a chance." His voice was taut with fury, "Regina could have killed her if we hadn't gotten her away. She could have been cursed right along with us, forever. She deserved better than that!"

"… And she deserved better than what she had here!" Neal returned, "You think it was _easy_ to do what I did? You're not the only one that loves her, you know. She was _all_ I had in this miserable world, and I let her go, so she could go back where she belonged, with her family. So she could find what she's been looking for her entire life! You think I would have chosen to spend the last decade without her if I thought there was any other way for her to get that?"

Charming looked somewhat taken aback by Neal's passionate spiel. Before he had time to think up a response to it, Neal was gone.

Emma stared dumbly at Neal's back as he stormed out of the apartment, thinking she'd definitely heard a present tense in somewhere in that rant.


End file.
